4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men,
Again, therefore, Jesus spake to them, saying, `I am the light of the world; he who is following me shall not walk in the darkness, but he shall have the light of the life.'
Jesus said to her, `I am the rising again, and the life; he who is believing in me, even if he may die, shall live;
Jesus saith to him, `I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one doth come unto the Father, if not through me;
I a light to the world have come, that every one who is believing in me -- in the darkness may not remain;
And this is the message that we have heard from Him, and announce to you, that God is light, and darkness in Him is not at all; if we may say -- `we have fellowship with Him,' and in the darkness may walk -- we lie, and do not the truth; and if in the light we may walk, as He is in the light -- we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son doth cleanse us from every sin;
wherefore he saith, `Arouse thyself, thou who art sleeping, and arise out of the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee.'
Jesus, therefore, said to them, `Yet a little time is the light with you; walk while ye have the light, that darkness may not overtake you; and he who is walking in the darkness hath not known where he goeth;
when the Christ -- our life -- may be manifested, then also we with him shall be manifested in glory.
Through the tender mercies of our God, In which the rising from on high did look upon us, To give light to those sitting in darkness and death-shade, To guide our feet to a way of peace.'
a light to the uncovering of nations, and the glory of Thy people Israel.'
the people that is sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in a region and shadow of death -- light arose to them.'
I, Jehovah, did call thee in righteousness, And I lay hold on thy hand, and keep thee, And I give thee for a covenant of a people, And a light of nations. To open the eyes of the blind, To bring forth from prison the bound one, From the house of restraint those sitting in darkness.
and the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and do testify, and declare to you the Life, the age-during, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us --
so also it hath been written, `The first man Adam became a living creature,' the last Adam `is' for a life-giving spirit,
`For, as the Father doth raise the dead, and doth make alive, so also the Son doth make alive whom he willeth;
And risen to you, ye who fear My name, Hath the sun of righteousness -- and healing in its wings, And ye have gone forth, and have increased as calves of a stall.
And I have caused the blind to go, In a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I cause them to tread, I make a dark place before them become light, And unlevelled places become a plain, These `are' the things I have done to them, And I have not forsaken them.
For a sun and a shield `is' Jehovah God, Grace and honour doth Jehovah give. He withholdeth not good To those walking in uprightness.
To the Overseer. -- `Concerning the Lily of Testimony,' a secret treasure of David, to teach, in his striving with Aram-Naharaim, and with Aram-Zobah, and Joab turneth back and smiteth Edom in the valley of Salt -- twelve thousand. O God, Thou hadst cast us off, Thou hadst broken us -- hadst been angry! -- Thou dost turn back to us. Thou hast caused the land to tremble, Thou hast broken it, Heal its breaches, for it hath moved. Thou hast shewn Thy people a hard thing, Thou hast caused us to drink wine of trembling.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 1
Commentary on John 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Gospel According to ST. John
Chapter 1
The scope and design of this chapter is to confirm our faith in Christ as the eternal Son of God, and the true Messiah and Saviour of the world, that we may be brought to receive him, and rely upon him, as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and to give up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him. In order to this, we have here,
Jhn 1:1-5
Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John's gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious. Let us enquire what there is in those strong lines. The evangelist here lays down the great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father. Observe,
Jhn 1:6-14
The evangelist designs to bring in John Baptist bearing an honourable testimony to Jesus Christ, Now in these verses, before he does this,
Jhn 1:15-18
In these verses,
Jhn 1:19-28
We have here the testimony of John, which he delivered to the messengers who were sent from Jerusalem to examine him. Observe here,
Jhn 1:29-36
We have in these verses an account of John's testimony concerning Jesus Christ, which he witnessed to his own disciples that followed him. As soon as ever Christ was baptized he was immediately hurried into the wilderness, to be tempted; and there he was forty days. During his absence John had continued to bear testimony to him, and to tell the people of him; but now at last he sees Jesus coming to him, returning from the wilderness of temptation. As soon as that conflict was over Christ immediately returned to John, who was preaching and baptizing. Now Christ was tempted for example and encouragement to us; and this teaches us,
Jhn 1:37-42
We have here the turning over of two disciples from John to Jesus, and one of them fetching in a third, and these are the first-fruits of Christ's disciples; see how small the church was in its beginnings, and what the dawning of the day of its great things was.
Jhn 1:43-51
We have here the call of Philip and Nathanael.